On the 14th of December, the FCC voted 3-2 to scrap all net
neutrality protections. Both of the dissenting FCC commissioners spoke
at a mass rally in front of the FCC prior to the vote. Lawsuits are now
being filed to halt the revocation of net neutrality. If the lawsuits fail, you may need to buy a video upgrade to your Internet service or
use Torbrowser to bypass your carrier's restrictions to watch video on
this site. You may also find the bandwidth too slow to stream because Archive is not Youtube, does not sell ads, and cannot pay for Internet toll lane premium service!
There are two parts to what Verizon, Comcast, and the other big ISP's
want to do if net neutrality dies. They want to charge websites for
premium access to "internet fast lanes," getting the bandwidth by taking
it away from everyone else. This is comparable to turning regular
traffic lanes on 16th st into I-66 style toll (HOT) lanes for Lexus
drivers with EZ-passes. They also want to filter and censor "basic
Internet access" like a basic Cable TV package. Then they want to sell
"social media upgrades," "video streaming upgrades," "sports upgrades"
etc just like Cable TV does. If you like Cable TV and your cable bill
you will love what FCC Chairman Ajit Pai and Verizon have in store for
your Internet service.
There is also the political aspect of this: the CEO's of major
corporations are usually conservative Republicans, so the potential for
major blocking of everything from news about Black Lives Matter actions
to information about where to access abortion services is strong.
